The ten victims, nine men and a woman, were picking up any metal left over from vehicles burned during an army operation in the village of Konti Kourmi, near the town of Bama, when they were attacked.
Gunmen believed to be linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State of West Africa (Iswap) have killed ten people in Borno State, an area of ​​northeastern Nigeria where such attacks are frequent.
The ten victims, nine men and a woman, were picking up any metal left over from vehicles burned during an army operation in the village of Konti Kourmi, near the town of Bama, when they were attacked.
“Everyone was killed,” said Babakura Kolo, the leader of a paramilitary group.
“The victims were in the village looking for metals when they fell on the terrorists who killed them,” he added.
On Friday, Iswap fighters attacked the town of Monguno, killing three militants and taking three civilians hostage. As of early June, at least 23 men, members of a group that sells scrap metal, had been executed by jihadists in the area, near the Chad border. These junkies, who are constantly on the lookout for metals, are accused by the jihadists of informing the authorities of their movements. In late April, about 30 junkies were killed by jihadists.
The State of Borno is the cradle of the extremist organization Boko Haram, from which Iswap split in 2016.
Clashes with jihadists that erupted in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 have killed 40,000 people and displaced about 2 million, according to the United Nations.
